Internal-combustion engine.



H. F. FULLAGAH.

. INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE.

APPLICATION FILED APR. I0. I915.

Patented Sept. 26, 1916.

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shafts to each of whic HUGH FRANCIS FUIiLAGAR, OF GATESHEAD, ENGLAND.

INTERNAL-CGMBUS'IION ENGINE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Sept. 26, 1916.

Application filed April 10, 1915. Serial No. 20,455.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HUGH FRANCIS FUL- LAGAR, a subject of the King of Great Britain and Ireland, residin at Gateshead-on- Tyne, in the county of urham, England, have invented Improvements in Internal- Combustion Engines, of which the following is a specification;

This invention relates to internal combustion engines specially suitable for propelling aeroplanes. In an engine for this purpose it is very desirable thatall the reactions of the engine should be self contained and give rise to no external force tending to distort or set up vibration in .the relatively light fuselage-and furthermore that the gyrostatic effect of the revolving masses shall neutralize each other so that change in the direction of flight in one plane shall produce no tendency to a further change in the direction of flight in another plane. In an engine to which the present invention is applied, these objects are attained b dividing the power of the engine, prefera ly equally, between two parallel or a proximately parallel a propeller can be attached, ,so that by the revolution of the shafts in opposite directions the gyrostatic effect of the revolving masses and torque reactions on the engine frame can be neutralized, while the reciprocating parts are so disposed that their inertia forces are completely balanced and tendency of stresses produced by the explosions to set up vibration in the engine frame is eliminated. In its simplest form such an engine comprises an open ended cylinder having two oppositely moving pistons each connected to one of a pair of parallel crank shafts at either end of the cylinder. The two shafts are kept in phase by any suitable form of mechanical gearing, such as a lay shaft and helical wheels, a sprocket chain or chains and gearing, or cranks and connecting link rods. Since the-two shafts are rotated in opposite directions their torque reactions neutralize each other and have no tendency to rotate the engine as a whole relatively to either shaft, while the gyrostatic effect of the two shafts and of any propellers, fly wheels or. other weights they may carry will also neutralize each'other. Moreover the recipi'ocating parts attached to the shafts having exactly opposite motions, their inertia forces will similarly balance each other, while the fluid pressure acting equally upon cylinders, the cylinders in each pair being placed closely side by side and each provided with two oppositely moving pistons, the pistons of each cylinder being cross connected to the pistons of the other cylinder of thepair.

In the accompanying drawings Figures 1 and 2 are respectively a sectional elevation and plan, more or less diagrammatic of one form of eng1ne according to the lnvention,

Fig. 3 is a similar view to Fig. 2 of a modified form of engine according to the invention. e

As shown in Figs. 1 and 2 the engine maycomprise, as a unit, two cylinders a, a placed closely side by side and each provided with two opposed oppositely moving pistons b which are cross connected, the piston at one end of each cylinder being connected by means of a pair of oblique tie rods 11' to the piston at the opposite end of the other cylinder. 6 are propellers on the crank shafts, g is a lay shaft and h helical gearing connecting the lay shaft to the crank shafts. The pistons of one cylinder only, namely a, are directly connected by the connecting rods f to the crank shafts d by means of a single crank c on each shaft, the impulses from the pistons in the conjugate cylinder at being transmitted to the two crank shafts through the oblique tie rods i and connecting rods f. Although not so restricted, the pair of cylinders a, a are shown situated with their axes in a plane at right angles to the common plane containing the axes of the crank shafts. In every case where one pair of pistons is directly coupled to the crank shafts, as inFigs. 1 and 2,

the cross heads is of the other pair may, as shown, conveniently be utilized to operate each as one member of an air pump working in connection with a stationary member, shown as a pump cylinder m, to supply the charges of air to the respective pairof cylinders a, a in the manner described in the.

specification of a former application for Letters Patent Serial No. 785539 filed 19th August 1913. n are com ressed air receiver chambers that receive air from the pumps and deliver it into the cylinders a, a through ports 0 controlled by the pistons b as usual. 12 are exhaust ports and q exhaust chambers. The complete engine may consist of any convenient number of such units placed side by side. In Figs. 1 and 2 two such units are shown working on the two shafts d, a? through two pairs of cranks, the cranks c, 0 in each pair being shown 90 apart, in which case each crank receives two impulses per revolution and each shaft four im ulses per revolution at 90 apart.

s an alternative to the cross connection of the pistons by means of oblique tie rods, the cylinders of each pair may be twisted through a half turn around each other at the middle of their length, as shown in Fig. 3, so as to bring the piston 12 at one end of each cylinder into line with the piston 71 at the opposite end of the adjacent cylinder in which case the tie rods 2' connecting the pistons will be parallel to the axis of the con- 'nected pistons instead of oblique thereto.

This method of cross connection is fully described'in the'specification of former Letters Patent granted to me No. 995858 dated Jun 20th, 1911.

For the purpose of this specification the term cylinder is intended toinclude any form of hollow inclosing member having cylindrical end portions for the reception of a pair of oppositely movable pistons, whether such end portions have their axes in alinement or are displaced so as to be parallel or inclined to one another so long as the arrangement is such that when twp members of this kind are placed side by side, the piston at one end of one member shall move in the same direction as the piston at the opposite end of the other'member thereby enabling them to be coupled together for connection to a single crank, and in the claims hereunto appended a pair of cylinders embraces apa-ir, of operative members as herein, defined.

Whatl claim is: a 1. An internal combustion engine comprising two oppositely revolubleshafts arranged side by side, cranks thereon, a pair of cylinders also arranged side by side situated between the shafts, two oppositely movable pistons in each cylinder, coupling rods cross connecting the piston in one cylinder to the opposite pistons in the other cylinder, and means for transmitting motion from the two pairs of cross connected pistons separately to the respective crank shafts.

2. An internal combustion engine comprisin a pair of cylinders arranged side by si e, a pair of coacting crank shafts adapted to revolve in opposite directions, two oppositely disposed pistons in each cylinder adapted to move in opposite directions, means separately connecting the pistons in one cylinder to the crank shafts and means separately connecting the non-corresponding pistons in,the other cylinder with the pistons in the first named cylinder.

255. An internal combustion engine comprising a pair of cylinders arranged side by slde, a pair of co-actingcrank shafts adapted to revolve in opposite directions, two oppositely disposed pistons in each cylinder adapted to move in opposite directions, means embodying rods arranged obliquely to the axes of the cylinders connecting each piston of one cylinder with the oppositely situated piston of the other cylinder and a rod coupling each such cross connected pair of pistons to one of the crank shafts corresponding thereto, whereby an explosion in any one. cylinder simultaneously transmits an effort to the cranks of both shafts urging them in opposite directions.

4. An internal combustion engine comprising two oppositely revoluble shafts arranged side by side, cranks thereon, a pair of cylinders situated between the shafts both ends of one cylinder of the pair being closed to act as cross head-guides and pump chambers, crossheads in the form of pump pistons movable in such closed ends of the cylinders, two oppositely movable engine pistons in each cylinder, coupling rods cross connecting the engine-plstons in one cylinder to the crossheads of the pistons in the other cylinder and means for transmitting motion from the two pairs of cross connected pistons and crossheads separately to the respective crank shafts.

5. An internal combustion engine comprising two oppositely revoluble shafts arranged side by side, cranks thereon, a pair of cylinders also arranged side by side situated between .the shafts, two oppositely movable pistons in each cylinder, coupling rods cross connecting the pistons in one cylinder-to the opposite pistons in the other cylinder, means for transmitting motion from the two pairs of cross connected pis- 

